


Seven Years A Son

by skullshy



Series: Sons and Fathers [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Bisexual Harry Potter, F/M, Feels Train, For Want of a Nail, Gen, Harry goes to Hogwarts, Severitus | Severus Snape is Harry Potter's Parent, Severus goes rogue, Severus goes to make Voldemort wish he had never been born, Snape raises Harry, XD, now look what you've done, then they split up, with a side order of feels caboose, you are all such goddamn enablers, you made me write more feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-12
Packaged: 2019-07-23 23:16:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16168787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skullshy/pseuds/skullshy
Summary: This is the story of how Harry Potter was still Severus Snape’s son— even after seven long years apart.





	1. Chapter 1 Year 1

The first obstacle Harry has to undergo is the Sorting Hat. Papa told him about the Sorting Hat, and then wove out various scenarios based on which house he is sorted into.

But Harry has already walked in on a heated fight between his two new friends, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley, and decided that there was no way he was going to be sorted into either Gryffindor or Slytherin.

If he was sorted into Gryffindor, then none of the Slytherins would ever trust him. And he needed the Slytherins— Papa had told him that he must have the Slytherins on his side, if he wanted to undermine the Dark Lord.

It was equally clear that he could not be in Slytherin. It would give him all the advantages that he needed, but the adults around him would never truly trust him. And he needs the adults to trust him— well, not really, but it would make his life easier, at least.

Harry walks up to the Sorting Hat, jams it on his head, and waits.

“Oh yes,” says the Hat. “You could be great, it’s all in your head! Which will it be, cunning and ambition, or bravery at all costs?”

“I’d like to be in Hufflepuff, please,” Harry says, quite plaintively.

The Sorting Hat sputters. “Hufflepuff?! _Hufflepuff_?!”

“I don’t think I’m smart enough for Ravenclaw,” Harry continues. “No one will ever suspect me if I’m in Hufflepuff.”

The Sorting Hat huffs.

“That’s a very Slytherin way of looking at things,” he tells Harry with reproach.

“Please?” Harry asks again. “I promise it’s for the greater good.”

“Fine,” the Sorting House snaps, “Better be… HUFFLEPUFF!”

—

Harry does not hear from Papa until the end of the school year. To ease his loneliness, he writes letters to Papa, and then burns them. He doesn’t know whether an owl could reach Papa, and he couldn’t guarantee it wouldn’t be intercepted—

 _Nothing is safe until the war is over_ , Papa always said.

Even though he is lonely, he certainly isn’t alone.

He and Ron save Hermione from a troll, and Hermione saves Millicent Bulstrode from failing her Charms class, which makes her cautious friends with both Milicent and Pansy. And anyone who is a friend of Pansy’s is automatically a friend of Draco’s.

When he goes to rescue the Philosopher’s Stone, Hermione, Ron and Draco come with him, down the trapdoor guarded by a third-headed dog.

Millicent and Pansy are on their way to inform the teachers; Millicent to Professor McGonagoll, Pansy to Professor Sprout. Professor Sprout believes Pansy, as Pansy has never mistreated a plant in her life and secretly coos at them when no one is looking— but Professor McGonagoll does not believe dumb, slow and slimy Millicent.

Headmaster Fudge is carrying Harry Potter out of third floor corridor by the time Professor McGonagoll gets there, and the shocked look on her face goes a long way towards soothing Millicent's hurt feels.

Slytherins lie, cheat, connive and steal— but not when it’s _family_.

By the time Harry wakes up, Ron, Draco, Hermione, Pansy, and Millicent have collectively decided that adults cannot be trusted with the fate of the Wizarding World.

Devil’s Snare against the Dark Lord? No way.

They’re going to build an _army_.

—

Harry asks Headmaster Fudge questions, and he doesn’t really get answers. Well, he shouldn’t’ve expected any, so he sulks into his cards and candy until Fudge leaves.

He has a stack of get-well cards on the bedside table. He pulls out a red envelope at the bottom of the stack, and takes it to the bathroom.

It’s a Howler from Papa.

Harry grins as he listens to Papa tell him off.

“Blasted, foolish boy, you nearly gave me a heart attack— There are only two rules! One, don’t die, and two, don’t engage in any stupid, rash inane Gryffindor plans! What part of ‘let’s play keep away from the Dark Lord’ actually sounded like a good idea?!”

Papa rants a little while longer; Harry doesn’t care. If Papa can yell that loudly, that means he’s in good health. Papa curses Fudge, and Dumbledore, and a whole host of people that Harry doesn’t know, until he settles down.

“Well,” he says, clearing his throat, embarrassed by the outburst he had recorded into Howler form. “I’m pleased to hear that you are making friends, at least. Next time Miss Granger tells you something is a bad idea, please do listen to her.”

Papa cuts off, and doesn’t say ‘I love you’ or ‘I miss you’.

Other boys might be bothered by this, but not Harry.

Harry _knows_ Papa loves him— he doesn’t need words.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I didn't actually think I was going to finish this before the end of the year. XD 
> 
> I got stuck after the first two chapters, gave up and went on to write something else. I then got stuck on that other fanfic, and came back and completed this one. XD Story of my life.
> 
> How are you all doing? :D My life's been a bit crazy lately, but I hope yours isn't!
> 
> If you came here for the Marvel stuff, no worries, there's more of that somewhere. XD If you came here for the Harry Potter stuff, boy are you in for some treats (some time down the road when I get my shit together lol! XD)


	2. Chapter 2 Year 2

Harry hates Lockhart so much, he can hardly breathe.

Pansy and Hermione fawn over Lockhart, dot their i’s and t’s with hearts, and dangle onto every word he says.

But Harry knows that he’s a fraud, and it makes him mad, that Lockhart flaunts his fame when there’s a war going on, and everyone knows you can’t just Vanish piskies without immobilizing them first.

Also, Harry hates how Lockhart keeps trying to shower him with attention. Harry has spent most of his life trying to avoid attention, so Lockhart makes him deeply uncomfortable. Draco thinks it’s hilarious, and Ron wavers between laughter and envy— but Millicent gets it.

Lockhart treats Millicent like a slug he found underneath a rock, just because she’s not pretty and can’t be bothered to wash her hair more than once a week. Harry thinks this is totally unfair— Millicent is terribly smart, and her sarcastic comments never fail to make Harry laugh.

So he goes to the Weasley twins, who hook Millicent and Harry up with prototypes of their best pranks and novelty goods, so long as they test them out on Lockhart first.

When the entire school thinks he’s the Heir of Slytherin, Millicent snorts and calls him the “Heir of Hair”. It doesn’t matter that Millicent can’t spell either of those words— it’s still funny, and Harry chuckles every time he hears the joke. Hair, hairy Harry, get it?

They don’t need to do research to discover what the monster in the Chamber of Secrets is— Millicent goes home for the holidays, and brings back a hideous, blackened tome called _Serpentes Most Vile_. From there, they figure out there’s a basilisk in the basement of Hogwarts, and stumble their way into destroying it and defeating Voldemort for a second time.

But it isn’t until after it’s all over that Draco learns about his father’s involvement. Ron punches Draco in the face until Hermione and Pansy pull him off. Then, in dragging and hesitant sentences, Pansy explains to Draco about Ginny and the diary and his father.

Ron and Draco don’t speak to either for the rest of the year.

It feels like their team is fracturing apart at the seams.

Harry thinks about giving up his plot to recruit the Slytherins, because if he doesn’t have Draco, he won’t be successful.

Draco is a whirlwind of emotions. He feels angry and upset. _Betrayed_  His own father, his protector and his hero, almost got Hogwarts closed. Hogwarts is the haven he never knew he needed, freedom from the smothering expectations that have haunted his entire life.

And it’s Harry’s sanctuary. If Harry doesn’t have Hogwarts, he will _die_.

Draco knows this as tangible, breathing fact.

After two weeks, Draco finally comes to a head.

Hogwarts is his home, and Harry is his friend.

 _Screw_ Voldemort.

So he goes home for the summer.

He kisses his mother, and tells her that she should visit her relatives in France.

It’s not a suggestion; Draco does not frame it as such.

It is an order from the heir of House Malfoy.

His mother has tears in her eyes, and at that Draco almost loses his nerve and rescinds his order. But to his surprise, she kisses him on the forehead, and tells him how grown-up he is. She takes him to the locked second nursery, where his brothers or sisters were supposed to be raised, before her illness took all of her hopes and dreams away.

Narcissa locks the door again behind them, and opens the dusty wardrobe next to the windows.

Inside, to Draco’s astonishment, is everything he could ever need or want to dismantle a Dark Lord.

Ancient tomes, horrendous potions, weapons that draw the soul out as they wound the flesh— all of it is here for the taking.

For him, in case he ever decided to defy his father and join the Light.

Draco swallows a hard lump in his throat.

He loves his mother so very much.

Narcissa tucks a lock of his hair behind his ear and kisses him once more, before leaving him to master himself.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a lot of feelings about Millicent, okay? XD So many feels that I may go back and change who Harry marries, because for some reason I'm on the Harry/Millicent bandwagon.
> 
> That's the fun part of fanfic! I can retcon my own work! XD
> 
> Also, if Narcissa were truly a Slytherin, and truly did love Draco, she would have prepared for all contingencies, just saying.


	3. Chapter 3 Year 3

Draco comes back to Hogwarts for his third year a changed man. A young man, but a man nevertheless, a solemn look to his face and the weight of the world already etched into his spine.

The first thing he does is take Ron aside, and say, “Tell your father to look behind the portrait of Armand Malfoy.”

A week later, Arthur Weasley is rocketed to stardom after the biggest Dark Object bust in the history of the Ministry of Magic.

Draco’s father is in Azkaban, and the scandal knocks him from the totem pole of Pureblood society, but Draco doesn’t care.

The team is back together again— and nearly in time too, because Sirius _fucking_ Black escapes out of the very Azkaban his father was just put in. And of course, he’s after Potter.

**\--**

 

Harry doesn’t know how to feel about Sirius Black.

On one hand, he knew that Black hadn’t killed his parents; Pettigrew had.

Papa was reluctant to paint Black in a good light, but he was firm on the fact that Pettigrew was the murderer responsible. Pettigrew was worse than a coward, he was a sycophant, his moral compass as limp as his—

At this Papa had remembered he was talking to a ten-year old boy, coughed, and did not finish the sentence.

Harry got the point anyway.

On the other hand, he knows in intimate, graphic detail, what a menace and a bully Black was. Just as bad as Dudley, but worse because Black had a pretty face and manners and always hit you where you least expected it. This terrified Harry, the idea that something that looked good and beautiful on the outside could be just as rotten as Dudley.

For a few months after Papa tells him about Black, Harry had declared that he would not go to Hogwarts, especially if it allowed such bullying and werewolves and other terrible things to happen to students.

Papa realizes his campaign to keep Harry safe from the clutches of Black has gone over a bit too well, and is induced to tell Harry about some of the good moments of his own Hogwarts education. Making potions. Sneaking out with Lily in the moonlight. The Halloween feast and the Common Rooms.

Harry becomes more excited about Hogwarts— but still ambivalent about Sirius Black.

But he does like dogs, and there’s this stray black one that likes to hang out with him near the lake.

Harry smuggles chicken wings from the kitchens, because he remembers what it’s like to be hungry and lonely, even though that was a long time ago.

—

Pansy is the one who figures out about Sirius Black, because Black breaks into the Gryffindor dorm and not the Hufflepuff one, and Snuffles the rank, mangy dog has an unnecessarily keen interest in Harry, and Crookshanks is a murder machine and not a cat—

Okay, so it’s actually Crookshanks who figures out about Sirius Black.

Crookshanks brings Scabbers to Pansy. Pansy is two seconds from flinging that disgusting rat into the lake (because honestly, rats are gross. Pansy still can’t believe that Ron _sleeps with it in his bed._ )

Then she takes a closer look at the fur pattern on Scabbers.

There are lines, like a necklace of chains around his throat.

Pansy recognizes this because that’s what her mother had around her neck, too. Pansy’s mother turned herself into a fox animagus to escape the Dark Lord. Yet she had the same markings around the fur of her throat— the Dark Mark an inescapable noose around her neck, pulling her back to him no matter what form she took.

Pansy found her mother’s body in the bathtub when she was nine.

She knew, even at that tender age, that her mother would not wake again.

Pansy steals an owl cage from one of the upper years, and locked Scabbers into it. Then she casts the most vile locking spells she knew, spells that would only allow her to open the cage. There was, after all, some benefits to being a daughter of a Dark family.

Then she brings the rat-and-cage back to Crookshanks.

Crookshanks takes her out into the snow, out past the Shrieking Shack, to caves at the edge of the Hogwarts grounds.

She stops at the entrance to the cave. Her heart is beating out of her chest, and she feels the very veins in her body vibrate.

“Crooks? You brought any lunch?” a voice asks from inside the cave.

Pansy takes one step, and then two, and then she is face to face with a man she has only seen in newspapers and heard about in hushed whispers.

“It depends on your definition of lunch, Mr. Black,” Pansy announces, steeling her breath not to rattle in her chest.

Mr. Black freezes, and then reaches for his wand. Crookshanks comes in and rubs himself against Mr. Black’s legs, but he does not unbend.

“Who are you?” he croaks out.

“Pansy,” she says. “I’ve brought a peace-offering.”

She holds up the cage, where Scabbers is frantically scurrying around, squeaking like mad.

Mr. Black opens and closes his mouth several times.

At last, he says, “Do you know who that is?”

“I have some guesses,” Pansy replies. “Well?”

Mr. Black stares at the cage, as if staring at it would set the contents on fire.

“What do you want in return?” he asks.

Pansy takes a deep breath.

“We need a base of operations and some supplies.”

“For what?” Mr. Black asks.

Pansy laughs.

It sounds hollow and tired.

“Did you think that Harry was going to defeat the Dark Lord by himself?”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is nothing more Slytherin than deciding that the good guys suck at saving the world, so you have to do it your self.
> 
> It always seemed weird to me that Dark Marks didn't show up on animagi, since Minerva's glasses and Peter's chewed off finger are represented in animal form. But then I thought that Dark Marks wouldn't show up real well on fur-- so chains. After all, the Dark Mark essentially chains oneself to Voldemort...
> 
> Anyway! So sleepy. If I could get away with sleeping at my desk, I would. XD


	4. Chapter 4 Year 4

By fourth year, Harry’s pretty sure that Papa was right— the universe _does_ have it out for him.

He was hoping to finally get some time to work on his dueling skills, hone his defenses, and learn more charms. He is years ahead of his peers, but he still has a Dark Lord to defeat in three years.

Unfortunately, the Dark Lord has other ideas.

Namely, entering Harry into the Triwizard Tournament.

As soon as Harry finishes being patronized and belittled and not believed by Fudge, Draco and Ron drag him off to the nearest broom closet for a Very Important Meeting. They are shortly joined by Pansy, Millicent, and Hermione, and the broom closet becomes very crowded indeed.

Pansy reports that they now have a base of operations to stash their illicit goods in.

Nobody asks where Pansy got this base— they don’t really want to know.

Hermione gives a report on how the Goblet of Fire must have been tampered with (Dark magic, duh. Probably Voldemort).

Ron says that the first task is dragons, because his brother Charlie told him, even though he’s not supposed to tell anyone.

Draco mentions that he’s started collecting information and supplies. The Dark Lord has to have a weakness, Draco insists, and so does the Triwizard Tournament. Harry scowls at this underhandedness; Draco points out what is better, _cheating or living_.

Harry knows that living to see Papa again is more important than temporary lapses in morals, even though they’re supposed to be the good guys. So he doesn’t say anything.

Millicent declares that she will stick to Harry better than Spellotape— Harry flashes her a smile. Millicent is a good friend.

“Well?” Hermione prompts.

They scatter into the wind.

But even with all of their preparations, none of them could have predicted the graveyard.

Or Cedric.

The Hufflepuffs are ecstatic to have not one, but two Hufflepuff champions! The rest of the school can hardly complain, since nothing exciting ever happens to Hufflepuffs. This very well might be their only time in the spotlight.

But Cedric.

 _Cedric_.

Harry can’t involve Cedric in the Defeat Voldemort For Sure This Time Team, because Cedric is too pure, too good. Cedric is everything Harry ever wished he could be. He’s nice to everyone, he doesn’t have a prophecy breathing down his neck, and he gets to see his dad on the holidays and over the summer.

But also, Cedric is really, really kind to Harry.

When they’re not participating in the tournament, Cedric shows Harry some cool Quidditch moves, and he makes sure Harry eats enough and ruffles his hair when he says something funny. Cedric is beautiful, and the light always shines on his golden bronze hair. His brown eyes are warmer than chocolate and twice as sweet.

Harry has a giant crush on Cedric, but he’s got good friends, and they don’t tease him. Well, too much anyway.

So it feels right for both of them to grab the Triwizard Cup. And afterwards, Harry thinks he’ll ask Cedric out.

But the Triwizard Cup ends up being a Portkey to a graveyard full of Death Eaters.

Papa has taken out some Death Eaters, Harry knows this.

But even one Death Eater is one too many.

They kill Cedric.

But they can’t catch Harry.

Harry has been trained by Severus Snape to be a war machine, a dueling prodigy.

Harry stuns or maims four Death Eaters before ducking behind a large gravestone to catch his breath. His lungs sting, his eyes sting, and he just wants to give up.

What’s the point of having friends, if they all get killed.

A man shimmers into view in front of Harry, and crouches down.

It’s Papa.

He holds Harry against his chest as Harry.

He place a kiss on Harry’s sweaty forehead.

Then he gives Harry back the Triwizard Cup.

“C’dric, we have to—” Harry slurs out.

“Shh, I’ve got him,” Papa says. “Go now, hurry.”

Harry touches the Triwizard Cup, and it takes everyone in the nearest half mile back to the Quidditch Field.

Cedric’s body lands a few feet away from Harry.

The Death Eaters appear, forcibly yanked from the graveyard to the field.

The appearance of the Death Eaters causes a mass panic. In the ensuing chaos, no one notices that Professor Moody is Stupefied, and then Revelio’d. They find this out a half hour later— Fudge does a poor job of restoring order and capturing Death Eaters, which doesn’t surprise Harry.

Harry is the only one who notices an extra Death Eater, pulling their hood over their greasy black hair.

Harry closes his eyes, and allows himself to cry.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry there was some sads. D: But hey, we get to see Papa for the first time in this fic! 
> 
> ...here's some more tissues, guys.


	5. Chapter 5 Year 5

Harry usually spends his summers with his friends, jumping around so as not to be caught by Minister Scrimgeour. Minister Scrimgeour is still trying to find ways to get the Boy-That-Lived under his thumb, and Harry wants anything but that.

This summer, he spends it at Grimmauld Place.

It’s apparently his godfather Sirius’ home. Harry only knows this because Pansy told him, not because he’s actually talked to the man. Harry has done an excellent job of avoiding talking with Sirius Black— in between his screaming nightmares of Cedric’s death, and his depression and anger, there really isn’t much time to spend with Black.

They met face to face once.

Black wanted to know why Harry wanted nothing to do with him. Harry told him that Severus Snape was his Papa and had raised him for years, and told him all about the nightmare Black had been to his Papa. Harry reiterated that he wanted nothing to do with Black.

Black was so flabbergasted that it gave Harry a chance to run away.

Which honestly is what he has been doing all summer.

Luckily, he has really good friends who know when to leave him alone and when to prod him into living.

Draco does the cooking for them all, after he had been disowned by his father and kicked out of the Malfoy Manor during the first week of summer. Despite this disinherited status, Kreacher loves Draco, so it’s more likely that they get edible food when Draco cooks.

Hermione usually takes the food up to Harry’s bedroom on the fourth floor, and tries to get him to talk about his feelings. When she isn’t doing that, she is plotting the demise of Voldemort from the sitting room, which has been spread with maps and tables and charts over every inch of its walls.

Ron plans out their strategies, working out who need to be moved where, what alliances needed to be made, and who could not be trusted. Pansy is their representative, since her manners are impeccable and she is pretty enough to convince men (and women) to join them against their better natures.

Millicent bakes cakes, and puts them outside Harry’s door.

She doesn’t ask him to talk about Cedric— Harry doesn’t ever even see her, except her back as she is descending the stairs.

It’s the cakes that get him out of his room.

Milly had started out baking one cake, and then three or four or more, and had taken to spacing them equidistant down the distance from Harry’s room to the first floor.

When he opens his door and sees all of the cakes, he can’t help but laugh.

There is a white buttercream cake, with enormous black glasses of black icing on the top.

A few steps down is a cake that looked like a lopsided, orange snitch.

Below that is a brown cake that was either a hedgehog or a passable imitation of Harry’s hair. On and on the cakes went, all the way down to the first floor landing.

Harry laughs until he cries, and then cries some more. He finally wipes his eyes, feeling a great deal better about things than he had in a long time.

Harry Leviosa’d the cakes downstairs, taking a bite out of each of them as they flew past him. He makes his way to the sitting room, where everyone was seated, pouring over maps. Even Black is there.

Everyone looks up in astonishment at Harry and his posse of floating cakes.

“Well?” Millicent asks. “Is the snitch cake better than the Hairy Harry cake? Or is it the snake cake you prefer?”

“By far the Hungarian Hornback cake!” Harry says. “How did you manage to bake all of these in one day?

“A Bulstrode family secret,” Millicent sniffs. “Are you going to eat them, or what?”

So Harry finally sits down and eats with all of his friends, who are fast on their way to becoming his family, and eats cake. He even manages to politely hand Black a piece of snitch cake.

 

—

Of course, the universe is still after him, and the rest of the school year only goes down from there. Half of the staff are replaced by “Ministry-approved” teachers, which makes the quality of education at Hogwarts tank. They are either incompetent or cruel; or in the case of Umbridge, _both_.

Pansy and Hermione decide that now is a good time to expand the membership of Team Defeat Voldemort. Everyone is pretty pissed at the direction Hogwarts is going, the air of revolution heavy and fierce in the stone halls.

All of the Slytherins are on a knife’s edge— they’re expected to support the Voldemort-backed Ministry, but they’re also born and bred to be ambitious. There is nothing worse for ambition that shoddy teaching and excessive propaganda. How are they supposed to rule the world if they have to waste so much time brown-nosing with pawns and idiots?

Worse, they’ve found out that the Dark Lord killed Cassius Warrington in a fit of rage after the botched graveyard incident. Voldemort wasn’t supposed to touch the pure, that’s what their parents had told them— but many are starting to see that Voldemort only truly cares about himself.

A lot of Slytherins defect that week, and Draco is kept busy bringing them into the fold without jeopardizing Harry and Pansy’s work.

Surprisingly, Draco’s best assets are Weasleys— specifically the twins and Ginny.

The twins give Slytherins outlets to wreck havoc without it being traced back to them, all the while having fun and sabotaging Voldemort’s Ministry power base. It’s a win on all sides, and Draco regrets not trusting the Weasleys before.

If anything, they know how to make war in style.

Ginny has changed from a Weaslette to a blood-hound. She recruits from other houses and organizes their revenge using the Room of Requirement. When Marietta Edgecomb blabs to the Ministry about underground societies undermining the Ministry, it affects Ginny’s operations but nothing else.

They are perfectly compartmentalized but operating in a way that no one steps on each other’s toes. Ginny’s agents getting caught doesn’t affect Draco’s agents or Pansy’s agents— they continue the war as before, which confuses the hell out of the Ministry.

And Ginny’s Bat-Bogey Hex ensures that anyone else thinking about turning traitor think again.

Harry, on the other hand, turns class-skipping into an art.

When Umbridge tries to goad him into detention by blatantly denying Voldemort’s rise, Harry keeps quiet.

Papa taught him the value of keeping your mouth shut. Things that are said cannot be unsaid, and sometimes the safest place is one’s thoughts. Once protected by Occlumancy, thoughts are inviolate— no one can take them away from you.

Instead, Harry resists in true passive-aggressive style. He refuses to show up for Umbridge’s classes. Umbridge can’t punish him if he’s not there to receive the punishment. She gives him detention after detention, but Harry doesn’t show up for them either. Only McGonagall can enforce Harry’s detentions— and she won’t, because she hates Umbridge that much.

Harry uses the free time to train with Sirius and Mad-Eye Moody.

Mostly Moody, because training with Sirius is emotionally fraught.

Sirius grins like the devil, and tell him he fights just like his father.

When Harry does something underhanded, Sirius scowls and says nothing. He doesn’t want to admit that Harry also fights like his Papa— he has to fight like Papa, to survive.

And he’s proud of fighting like Papa, who has endured and broken and shattered, and still wakes up every morning, with a tiny shard of hope in his chest.

 

—

Despite all their preparations, they still almost lose to Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries. Sirius dies killing Bellatrix, Neville loses his right leg trying to save him, and Lucius Malfoy is trampled to death by a sentient brain.

Draco freezes in that moment, and almost loses his eye. He’s lucky to not have lost it, let alone his life.

The rest is utter chaos.

Voldemort is hemorrhaging faithful Death Eaters, but the ones that are left fight like cornered animals.

Hermione is paralyzed in her right side due to a curse, and it is only the quick action of Millicent that she still has movement left.

Ron defeats Rosier and Nott Sr. before the Ministry gets there. By doing so, he at last defeats his own self-doubt.

When Draco wavers over the corpse of his father, risking capture, Ron pulls him back and soothes his tears.

They are never quite enemies again.

Pansy and Harry stay behind to orchestrate the battle from Grimmauld Place. Pansy accomplishes this by tying Harry to a chair and guilt-tripping him about what would happen if his Papa’s sacrifice was for nothing.

Harry doesn’t see Papa this battle, but he knows that Papa is there, somewhere.

When the dust clears, they have captured or killed all but Voldemort, Fenrir Greyback and the Carrows.

Harry lifts the prophecy from his container. Pansy writes it down for him, and then they smash the glass.

Then he walks over to Sirius’ body, and parts his wild, dark hair from his face.

 

He cries for what could have been.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's been a bit! I had a tough week and forgot that I hadn't posted in a few days.
> 
> Anyway, writing Sirius in this was hard. Sirius was one of my favorite characters when I was in my formative years, and I had a hard time seeing the flaws in his character, even after he got himself killed in Book 5. I recently read a really long and anguishing fic where Sirius and Severus are fighting for custody over Harry, and was quite devastatingly reminded of the consequences of the kind of myopic prejudice and rash arrogance that Sirius represents. So that reflects itself here.
> 
> However, I do love the wicked and complicated nature of the Black family, so I may do a "restoring of the Black family" fic where Sirius is better characterized.


	6. Chapter 6 Year 6 Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for brief mentions of suicide attempt

At this point, Harry’s not sure why he’s even in school anymore. It’s clear that he’s surpassed all the other students in the subjects that matter, and is passably competant in all the rest.

Also, Voldemort is retreating, and they need to kill him before he has a chance to rebuild his forces.

When he snaps this at Hermione, she pauses for a second. Instead of looking upset, she looks thoughtful.

“Perhaps you’re right,” she says. “I’ll ask Pansy if we can move up the timeline.”

Pansy stamps her feet and swears and threatens to tear out all of her hair, but she, Ron and Hermione eventually condense their plans to accommodate Harry’s impatience.

It’s the night of his birthday, and they are all crowded in some dingy flat in Surrey. Grimmauld’s protections crumbled with Sirius’ death, so Pansy moved all of their operations into an apartment Hermione rented in the Muggle parts of the city.

It’s cramped and tempers flare as all seven of them live in a two-bedroom apartment, even with Hermione’s Expandable room charms.

But a few minutes past midnight, they are all asleep in the bedroom floor, huddled in sleeping bags and a mass of blankets.

Harry slips out of his sleeping bag and palms the hand mirror Papa gave him for his birthday. He tip-toes to the kitchen with it in his hands.

“Revelio,” he whispers on the surface of the mirror.

The mirror darkens, light swirling— and then it reveals Papa’s desk.

“Harry?” Papa calls sleepily.

“Yeah, it’s me,” Harry says, his heart swelling.

It’s been more than a year since he had heard his Papa’s voice.

Papa’s face comes into view.

He has streaks of grey in his black hair, and more lines in his face than Harry remembers previously. Yet he still smiles for Harry, that crooked smile that means more than all the stars in the sky to Harry.

“We’ve moved up the timeline,” Harry tells him. “I want to take advantage while he’s down for the count.”

Papa looks somber, ghosts of knowledge haunting his face.

“Harry, my son—”

Papa swallows hard, and makes to get up.

“It’s okay,” Harry says. “I kinda guessed that I wasn’t supposed to survive this. Just tell me.”

Papa still looks devastated.

“Seven horcruxes,” he whispers.

“One is inside of me?” Harry asks.

Papa nods. He begins to cry, silent tears down his face.

Harry cries too. Not because he’s scared to die, but because he doesn’t want Papa to be alone.

He suddenly remembers something that Sirius had said.

_Lily was there every day until Charlus died, like the daughter he never had…_

Harry doesn’t say, “It’s going to be okay,” because that’s trite and untrue.

What he does say is this:

“You know I love so much, Papa. You know that, right?”

Papa wipes at his tears, but they keep streaming down his face regardless.

“Yes, I do know that.”

“Good,” Harry says.

 

—

At breakfast the next morning, Harry breaks the news about having to hunt horcruxes.

Draco looks excited, which was hardly the reaction Harry was expecting.

“Finally, I get to contribute,” he exclaims.

“What, spying on the entire Slytherin house wasn’t contribution enough?” Pansy deadpans.

Draco unearths a leather satchel, and begins pulling things out of it.

A jar of what looks like basilisk fangs scavenged off the floor of the Chamber of Secrets. Several goblin-made swords, something that looks like a rusty iron bear trap, a potion vial, and a cursed tea kettle.

The kitchen table groans under the weight of all of the objects.

“The heck are these?” Ron asks, reaching out to touch the tea kettle before Hermione yanks back his hand.

“Horcrux destroying devices,” Draco announces proudly. “My mum has been collecting them, in case that was how the Dark Lord got his immortality.”

“Huh, color me impressed,” Pansy says.

“Do we know if they all work?” Hermione wants to know.

Draco shrugs.

“Probably? I’ll give you the books that describes Horcruxes,” Draco says.

He rummages through the satchel again and hands Hermione some books. Hermione immediately settles into research mode, summoning her note-taking supplies.

Ron takes over from there.

“So there’s six horcruxes, right?” he confirms.

Harry doesn’t have the heart to correct him, because then he has to explain _where_ the seventh horcrux is.

“That means each of us gets to find and destroy one horcrux,” Ron continues, oblivious to Harry’s inner angst. “Divide and conquer, right?”

Draco thinks about it for a bit. “But if the Dark Lord catches on to what we are doing, he could make the last few horcruxes that more difficult to destroy,” he comments.

They go back and forth, all of them giving input on what they think is the best strategy, with Hermione adding tidbits from her reading.

At last, they decide to have each person hunt and find a horcrux— but destroy them all at the same time, to deliver a final blow to Voldemort.

Harry, as luck would have it, has been assigned to capture Nagini.

 

\--

 

It takes them a year to hunt horcruxes.

Draco and Pansy pry the ring from its death trap by the skin of their necks. When they return with it to the apartment, they blanket it in wards and Anti-Detection Spells, and shove it deep in Ron’s sock drawer. Even thinking about it gives them the shudders.

Millicent gets a free pass on horcrux hunting, as they find out that the diary that possessed Ginny was actually one of Voldemort’s horcruxes.

Instead, she joins Hermione to hunt down the locket.

They both come back, after a fashion.

They half-walk, half-stagger to the Apparition point, and then Apparate to a bus station.

When Harry comes to pick them up, Hermione has sobbed herself sick, and Millicent can’t remember anything for longer than two minutes. Harry explains who he is and where they are going a dozen times, and it still doesn’t stick.

The next morning, Millicent is doing better, a little more in control of her mental faculties.

Hermione, on the other hand, is not.

Pansy finds Hermione in the middle of a suicide attempt, screaming that the locket is a mistake and she’s killed Millicent for nothing.

It takes three of Draco’s best calming draughts to bring her down from the edge. Still, it takes a week for Hermione to stop hallucinating that Millicent is dead.

The locket is not a mistake, but a _fake_.

With their injuries and near-death experiences rising, they decide to change their strategy. Secrecy is no longer an option if none of them are alive and sane at the end of it. Instead, they create a very dangerous compass that points them in the direction of the horcruxes. Hermione protests that it can’t possibly work, because the horcruxes are spelled to be Unlocatable.

Draco snaps back that he had to kill three people for this, so maybe she should just shut up.

Hermione does shut up.

At first, they think it’s malfunctioning, because it points them to Hogwarts and Diagon Alley at the same time.

Then Ron remembers the twins stashing some of their merchandise in the Come-and-Go Room. What better place to hide a horcrux than amongst thousands of items?

Ron takes Harry and Hermione, and they go to Hogwarts.

Draco takes Millicent and Pansy, and they go scout out Diagon Alley.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This part was so long that I had to break it up into two separate sections. 
> 
> At this point I remembered that Harry was supposed to end up with Ginny as his wife and not Millicent, so I brought Ginny back into the fold. I may later change that because I really like the Milly/Harry interactions here... but later, because I'm tired. XD


	7. Chapter 7 Year 6 Part 2

Fred, George, Ron, Neville and Luna are combing through the Come-and-Go Room in a grid-like pattern, leaving no object upturned.

Harry is huddled in a corner with Ginny.

“Do you think you could do me a favor?” Harry asks.

Ginny blinks, but nods.

“Sure, what do you need?”

“Could you marry me?” Harry blurts out.

Whatever Ginny had been expecting, it wasn’t that. She raises an eyebrow.

“Are making a bucket list?” she jokes. “I didn’t realize the outcome of the war was so dire.”

Harry shakes his head.

“No, I need you to take care of someone, in case I don’t make it. That’s the best way,” he explains.

“I can take care of someone without having to marry you—” Ginny begins, but Harry shakes his head again.

“You need access to my vaults, and all of the safe houses need to transfer to you. I don’t want what happened with Grimmauld to happen to P— this person. You’d be free to spend my money, or remarry or whatever, so long as this person is taken care of.”

Ginny stares at his face for some time.

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

Harry nods.

“Well, okay then. I’ll marry you,” Ginny announces.

“Just like that?” Harry asks, astonished by how easy it was.

“Just like that,” Ginny says. “I’m a Gryffindor, lost causes are kind of our thing.”

Harry grins, the first smile that’s graced his face in a long time. She smiles back, and tucks her red hair behind her ears.

“Thanks,” he says.

“Oi! Where are you slackers?” Ron calls. “We’ve found the horcrux, it’s this stupid tiara thing.”

“Butt-ugly,” Fred agrees.

“We should put it on Draco’s head and call him a princess!” George declares.

“Such a pretty, pretty princess!” Fred cackles, giving Luna a twirl.

Ginny and Harry roll their eyes at the same time, and then burst out into laughter.

 

—

Draco, Pansy and Millicent’s Diagon Alley visit is much more stressful.

They find out that the horcrux is somewhere in Gringotts.

There’s a lot Draco would do in the service of taking down the Dark Lord, but breaking into Gringotts is not one of them. First of all, he’s certain they wouldn’t make it out alive.

Second, their rebellion group is funded out of Gringotts, and Draco doesn’t really feel like shooting himself in the foot if he doesn’t have to.

So Draco decides to bargain with the goblins. This is a terrible idea, but none of his friends stop him.

Because of the wealth left to him by his father, he is accorded the honor of meeting his accounts manager, Krugnast, in a private office.

Of course, the meeting declines from there.

Draco asks about vault requisition— aka stealing something like a horcrux out of someone else’s vault for the greater good of the entire world. For asking this, he is nearly booted from the room and barred from Gringotts for eternity.

“It’s the Dark Lord’s horcrux, it’s what’s keeping him alive!” Draco hisses. “I wouldn’t ask unless it was that important!”

The goblin guards dragging him away freeze for a moment.

Krugnast raises an eyebrow.

He raises his spindly hand and murmurs something in Gobbledegook.

The goblin guards drag Draco back into the room.

Draco cools his heels for almost an hour and a half as Krugnast is off discussing with his supervisors. The goblin guards have taken up residence on either side of the meeting room door and show no signs of moving.

Draco starts to sweat— he wasn’t expecting to be detained for so long.

Just when Draco starts to contemplate making a run for it, Krugnast comes back, with Ragnar the Unbelievably Wealthy.

Ragnar is the head of Gringotts, and he walks in and smirks at Draco.

Draco tries not to cower. He’s a Malfoy, and Malfoys don’t cower—

“We cannot endorse a vault requisition, you must understand,” Ragnar begans. “It would set a precedent that the Goblin Nation is not comfortable condoning.”

“But—” Draco tries.

Ragnar raises his hand to forestall Draco.

Draco shuts his mouth.

“However, as bank, we are not liable for a vault owner recklessly misplacing their key,” Ragnar finished. “We cannot be held responsible for wizarding foolishness.”

Ragnar hands Draco a golden key with spikes sharp enough to prick blood.

“You, of course, found this key. You did not receive this key from any goblin. _Do you understand_?”

Draco takes the key.

“I understand.”

 

—

They destroy the cup with a basilisk fang, and that’s when the Dark Lord finally figures out something is happening.

Draco and Pansy’s spies report that the Dark Lord visits all of the locations of his hidden horcruxes. In his rage, he kills twelve people in two days. Four of them are pure-bloods; even the hardcore believers are starting to doubt their trust in the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord won’t let Nagini out of his sight, so Ron thinks it’s time to bring the battle to Hogwarts.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second to last chapter yay!! You all still reading? XD


	8. Chapter 8 Year 7

The Battle of Hogwarts is nothing and everything that Harry expected. 

He and his friends have prepared for this for months. They’ve cleared the castle, memorized all of the most dangerous spells, and gather an overwhelming amount of allies.

The Battle itself is short and anti-climatic.

Draco gives Neville the goblin sword, and Neville kills Nagini.

Harry casts Avada Kadavra on himself (not even Voldemort was expecting that!)

When he wakes up, the Battle is won, and the clean-up has begun.

Ginny helps him to his feet, and they go find the others.

Ron and Hermione are alive. Pansy is laid up with a busted foot but is cheerfully chewing out Millicent, who somehow got her long hair scorched to bits. Draco is holding his godson Teddy Tonks to his chest, rocking him to sleep.

Everyone else is staring at Harry.

Ron and Hermione notice the tension, and hustle Harry outside. Ginny joins them, her hand tucked in Harry’s own.

Once outside, Harry takes deep, gulping breaths of the fresh air. 

The grass smells sweet in the summer wind, and the day is not too hot.

On a whim, Harry turns towards the lake.

There are some boats there, and he thinks he’d like to go swimming.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short but sweet! I wanted the ending of this to connect back to the ending of SOFW, so that's why it's a little sparse. Though if you have some suggestions for more details to add, I'm all ears. (Except for the Battle. I don't care about the Battle, and it's been done to death. XD)
> 
> For those of you who have been eagerly and patiently waiting for Marvel stuff, rejoice! That'll be the next fic. I expect it'll be long and troublesome, because I'm already on Ch. 12 and I've gotten stuck three times. XD I'm guesstimating that it will be out January or February 2019, more or less.
> 
> Anyway, I hope you've enjoyed it, and I'll be back sometime soon!


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